Can in Can Grill

Inspired by the Vesto Stove, I set out to take some garbage and make my own high efficiency barbeque.

Materials needed:
2 empy paint cans of differing size
Handfull of rivets

Tools needed:
Drill
Full drill bit index
Masking tape, 2"
Pen or Pencil
Tin Snips
Hammer
Flatt head screw
Pop-rivitter
Vice-Grip or Channel locks or Line-man pliers
Vacuum

Step 1: Find 2 paint cans

You will want the outer can to be large enough to provide a decent cooking surface, with the inner can being only a bit smaller. The intent is to have an air chamber that will pre-heat the incoming air to increase efficiency of fire.

Comments

[irritant#9]

Where can you buy a flathead screwdriver? I never knew they made a screwdriver just for flathead screws. You didn't mention as to whether your flathead screwdriver was phillips or slot bladed....

[Hycro]

One could assume it would be slotted, as most people refer to a slotted screwdriver to being a "flat head" because the blade of the screwdriver is flat...it is very annoying for those of us who do know what each one is called. But what is the one that looks like a torx, only with a post in the middle making it so that you can't fit a slotted screwdriver inside it...oh, and I have license plate bolts that are similar, only they're hex-keyed, with the post in the middle of them too...would you know what screws/bolts with that (for lack of better term) head pattern is??

[thepaul1993]

dude, Epic Fail

[notker]

i lold

[ThaNorwegianDude]

me to lolol

[Mr. Smart Kid]

(removed by author or community request)

[Mr. Smart Kid]

LOOK AT THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Broom]

Sad little man, Mr. not-so-Smart Kid. The end of the screwdriver you showed is slotted. Flat-head screws have conic profiles, and can be either slotted, phillips, or even star drivers. Irritant#9 is snarking, but he's right: the screwdriver you showed is a "slotted" screwdriver, not a flat-head:

[quahogwi]

Yeah, I'm a year late, but ... it's called a flat blade screwdriver, not a slotted screwdriver. The screw you use it on is called a slotted screw.

Minor technicality, but if we must correct someone we should do it right.

[lucek]

and some people call a one type of screw a slotted screw, doesn't mean you use a slotted screw driver on it.

[Vendigroth]

does it really matter? as long as it fits the screw.....

[bryandhispup]

yeah it's like if I say SODA and someone else may say POP and another fellow may use the term COKE. we are all asking for the same thing, it's a difference in how we speak. I grew up calling a slotted Screwdriver a flat head too. the Phillips head was a Cross Head. that;s what everyone I knew called it too.

[irritant#9]

No actually it's not like that at all. If you work out in the field and you ask a helper to get you a 1/2" 6-32 flathead phillips screw, you don't need to wait half an hour for him to come back and tell you he couldn't find what you asked for even through you have hundreds of them in your truck. If you are calling it a Flathead screwdriver, you are using a "misnomer". Calling it a flathead screw driver irritates professionals because that is a confusing and incorrect reference. A flathead screw, if you look at it from the side has a conical profile and is flat on the drive face or "head". There are many driver types for flathead screws. You could call it whatever you want as long as you understand what you are talking about, it's just irritating to others who know different. To me it sounds like " Football Bat ".Hey, you can call a resistor a transistor if you want to, it doesn't mean you are correctly identifying the part in an industry accepted way.

[lucek]

its all semantics. I always called it a blade screw driver

[Broom]

Yes, it's semantics, but "semantics" doesn't mean "unimportant". Semantics refers to meaning. "Flat head screwdriver" has no meaning; it is only used here, and can't be used in a hardware store to buy a screwdriver, nor in a tool shop to get someone to hand you the right tool. "Semantics" requires that you use a meaningful word. That's why we tried to improve this instructable by correcting the mistake.

[lucek]

want to bet? most people including people who work at a hardware store think Philips, hex, square, star, or the other one with.

[irritant#9]

I would also recommend what I call "flathead screwdrivers" or what you might refer to as "hearing protectors" If you don't wear flat head screwdrivers during all that banging, you might lose your hearing.

[lucek]

a blade screw driver is flat (-) unlike a Philips (+).

[Omega192]

i always called the single line "flat head" as well as everyone else i know O.o and the plus ones are phillips. also. "mr. smart kid" theres kinda a "be nice" rule, and calling somone who asked an entirely reasonable question isnt so nice...

[irritant#9]

My campaign to rid the world of people who use "flathead scredrivers" shall never be over!

[binnie]

omg hahaha where do you buy a flathead screwdriver olol most hardware stores or sumfin liek walmart sumfin like that

[ThaNorwegianDude]

ZOMG you people here know how to talk about a simple thing as a flat srewdriver :-O

[lucek]

you want more holes in the iner* can than the outer. think about ash holes in the bottom.

[blksheep]

Nice job. You mentioned that it needed a little more airflow. Would fewer, larger holes work better? Or maybe large slots with a mesh screen? Hopefully I'll get a chance to try this one out.

[tippymcstagger]

What size cans did you use? AFAIK the largest metal ones around here are 1gallon~4liter.

[nabilahmad]

sorry to neglect the comments for so long. I have tried it out. It works well with a breeze. However, it does need more air flow when there is no wind. This cannot compare with the Vesto, as it has been much more throroughly engineered and tested. You place the combustables in the smaller can and the pot/grill across the top of the whole apperatus. Addiional modifcations to suggest would be handles and a simple ballast (rock) in the bottom of the larger can to provide assurance that it won't tip over easily. Irritant, flathead vs slot blade is all a matter of localized linguistics. I feel a bit experienced in this matter as I am working with people, in person, from about eighty different countries every day - It doesn't matter what you call it, just understand what you are trying to do with it and figure out what will work best for you. These are basic instructions, not guiding hands.

[yomama1800]

try a fan lol duh

[Squee]

Cool idea, looks very similar to the pepsi can hiking stove thingee I saw online a while back. I was going to make a crack about somone who has all of those tools also being able to afford a grill, then I realized I have all but the rivet gun and can't afford a grill (but could probably manage a rivet gun) ;-).

[Loveofchaos]

zenstoves dot com (i dont want a frikkin hyperlink lol, they bug me) i made one that burns alcohol and cooked some marshmallows over it. funn stuff

[Pike]

21 Century Hobo Stove?

[thecheatscalc]

Wow, very interesting! first thing I thought of when I saw this was "stuff some refractory mix in that empty space between the two cans, and you've got a foundry!" Heh heh heh... reminds me of the propane take foundry I've got in my back yard.... quite a beast... Anyways, looks pretty good!

[Edgar]

If you liked that, you'll love this, just click the link:

Coffe Can Foundry

[AymericRdV]

anybody still using a slotted/flathead screw driver should be shoved back into the 50's..because that's where those belong.

[Calltaker]

Actually, theoretically speaking, as long as you have heat inthe can, it will move the air in there upwards as it warms it, drawing more in the bottom, This would then create it's own breeze. The key there is to have a place for the air moving upwards to go. If you put a grill rack over the top, you should get a good burn, if not slow and steady. If you were to use this for cooking in a pot, I would suggest working out some sort of ventillation holes in the vertical lip of the top (around the outside lip) allowing the heated air to escape and replenish the oxygen to the fire via the vent holes. Having scrolled back up again, i also beilieve I may have found the other part of your ventillation problem. Your outer holes are in the top of the can, while the inner ones are in the bottom. I would put your outer holes below the inner holes, to enhance and help direct the updraft that you are trying to create. This should allow a more free flow of the air. Mind you, this is great idea, just wanted to add from a number of years as a firefighter and way too many classes on the subject of fire :) ~C

[dropkick]

I'm sorry to say this, as it looks like you put quite a bit of work into this and did a good job, but wouldn't this stove need at least 3 walls to work correctly, or the positioning of the holes reversed? The way it looks to me now, the fire would heat the air in between the walls, then it would rise and exit from the outside holes at the top of the can. This would get a draft started where unheated air enters from the open top travels through the fire and then exits through the wall. This would be almost the exact opposite from what you would want.

[solidification]

you can put some cheap lemon juice or vinegar or other acid (like HCl) on the surfaces to strip off the zinc coating. It will also help dissolve some of the paints. To make the reaction move along faster do something that will increase entropy. (like heat the juice/acid up near boiling and then apply it. It will smell like complete ass, but it will not be toxic like the burning zinc oxide / paint decompositions. The alternative is to burn it out, and make sure the white smoke goes somewhere other than on your person or personal affects.

[j.w_lewis]

for fuel use cotton balls soaked in metho or kero (kero is safer because you can see the flame easier but meth burns hotter

[Thaikarl]

where goes the combustables? where sits the pot?

[meddler]

Iv'e been looiing for a stove design to put in my emergency supplies. This hits the spot, good job.

[cornflakes]

Good seening israelis here, nice work.